New Krakauer: "Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town"

[ex-powderbroker]

Anyone had a chance to read this yet?

I imagine some people in Montana don't come away looking that good.

[seano732]

Anyone had a chance to read this yet?

I imagine some people in Montana don't come away looking that good.

Just read it this past weekend... I really like Krakauer's stuff, and this one didn't disappoint.... As a father of two girls, the statistics and descriptions of modern campus life are pretty horrifying... And you are correct, I don't know that people in Missoula will be lining up to buy JK a cup of joe.... Good read, def. recommend it, 3 out of 4 on the Seano scale......

[mcski]

Ugh. Krakauer has always slanted the facts to make whatever he thinks is a better story.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Yeah, there's a lot of butthurt.

[iscariot]

Ugh. Krakauer has always slanted the facts to make whatever he thinks is a better story.

This. His writing is horrible, sensationalized fiction.


Don't confuse it for anything resembling the truth.

He's as bad as Dan Brown, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and Michael Crichton.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Oh really?
That's funny, because I've read 3 of his books. They were all good, and they have all stood up under criticism and fact checking.

[PNWbrit]

Does it start off with three or four chapters about how he was raped in college?

After all his other books about other things are normally quite a lot just about him....

[ex-powderbroker]

This. His writing is horrible, sensationalized fiction.
He's as bad as Dan Brown, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and Michael Crichton.

What did he make up, Afganistan? the 1997 Everest disaster? Mormonism?

Does it start off with three or four chapters about how he was raped in college?

After all his other books about other things are normally quite a lot just about him....

Congratulations on the most tasteful rape joke I've ever read.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Does it start off with three or four chapters about how he was raped in college?

After all his other books about other things are normally quite a lot just about him....

I read Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Where Mean Win Glory. He doesn't talk about himself at all.
I know the 3 Cups thing was personal for him.

[seano732]

I read Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Where Mean Win Glory. He doesn't talk about himself at all.
I know the 3 Cups thing was personal for him.

Exactly. All of his work seems to be thoroughly researched and well cited... In this latest one he talks about how he had close family and friends that had been sexually assaulted and he had no idea.... That was one of the reasons he wrote this book.....

Edit- Hey Stucky, how accurate is his portrayal of the County Attorney's Office?? Sounds like a three ring shitshow....

[stuckathuntermtn]

Exactly. All of his work seems to be thoroughly researched and well cited... In this latest one he talks about how he had close family and friends that had been sexually assaulted and he had no idea.... That was one of the reasons he wrote this book.....

Edit- Hey Stucky, how accurate is his portrayal of the County Attorney's Office?? Sounds like a three ring shitshow....

I should probably shut up and read the book first, but I understand he got a lot of info straight from the court documents (that they tried to keep from him) and other public record. A reputable someone who knows someone who's daughter was the star of the book says it's all kosher. I gather the county attorney's office was pretty negligent and has since implemented a lot of changes as recommended by the DoJ. Pabst said some shit about suing for libel, but you can't if it's true. JK will be in town here giving a talk, so all the butthurt can get massaged out if people are willing.
In some ways, when it comes to the U, Missoula is very much a company town. I'm sure most college towns are like that. Even Boulder.

[seano732]

I should probably shut up and read the book first, but I understand he got a lot of info straight from the court documents (that they tried to keep from him) and other public record. A reputable someone who knows someone who's daughter was the star of the book says it's all kosher. I gather the county attorney's office was pretty negligent and has since implemented a lot of changes as recommended by the DoJ. Pabst said some shit about suing for libel, but you can't if it's true. JK will be in town here giving a talk, so all the butthurt can get massaged out if people are willing.
In some ways, when it comes to the U, Missoula is very much a company town. I'm sure most college towns are like that. Even Boulder.

Ya, Pabst by far comes out looking like a grade A shitbird..... And you hit the nail on the head about the relationship between Universities and the communities that surround them.... Look at Tallahassee, FFS..... Read it and lemme know what you think.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Sure, but really I have about as much of an inside track on this as the next schmuck. In fact, when this all went down a couple years ago, I purposely tried to not pay attention to it as I was just trying finish school and I heard football so I just tuned it out.
So maybe less than the next schmuck. I just know there's a lot of butthurt going around and when people don't like the truth that they hear they find a way to rationalize it away like "oh, this is just more sensationalist bullshit".

[PB]

Most rabidly delusional college town ever: Happy Valley

I know, not rape …… actually, it was rape, just not of female students

[Harry]

I lived in Missoula for 30 years, just moved away 2 years ago. Whoever said "company town" is correct. The whole time I was there the football team got away with anything. It was one thing when a football player from someplace instate like Harlowtown would get into a drunken bar fight and have the charges quietly swept away, but about 10-15 years ago the football team started recruiting inner city kids with extensive criminal records who could not get into anyplace better. Instead of minor bar fights, the football team started doing home invasions, rapes, and even murders. And the DA kept on covering it all up.

Missoula is a very cool town to live in, but I think that book needed to be written. Good for Krackaeur for exposing it. Fuck Griz Nation.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Football players and Frat boys will continue to get away with whatever they want and never (have to) take no for an answer as long as we continue glorifying adults for being good at kid stuff. Oh, you can run around and work out?
Big deal. Try to remember that I like paper bags, not plastic but if I have backpack on I'll just use that.
Ooh, you let them pee in your mouth and spank you so you could hangout and party with them? AND you had to pay dues for it? Top off the wiper fluid and air up the tires to 32 and 30, thanks.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Let me just also say that I had classes with a bunch of griz athletes and they were mostly pretty decent guys who knew they were gonna have to get a real job when college was over and actually tried hard at their studies.

[creaky fossil]

Edit- Hey Stucky, how accurate is his portrayal of the County Attorney's Office?? Sounds like a three ring shitshow....

You should ask Stuckie, he's lived here all of 4 years and knows nothing about the law or Missoula's rendition of it (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). He's the perfect one to ask. He can say "get the red ones" as well as anyone!

City and County attorneys for Missoula city/County are 3d rate hacks, but the govt entities they work for back them with bureaucratic authority, so that overcomes the lack of legal chops and grants "justice" in a finely-calibrated bureaucratic (read: politically motivated) manner. In a larger state system the MSO city/county attys would be bottom-feeders if they found work at all. Here, however, they are royalty.

The whole story is a fleecing of the truth, but Stuckie says Krakauer is noble and pure, so that definitely counts for something. After all, Stuckie's a guy whose meatspace skills/experience are invisible, but whose online presence is powerful.

[GeezerSteve]

I'll read it someday, will withhold my opinion until then.

After all his other books about other things are normally quite a lot just about him....

That changed after his utter piece-of-shit Into Thin Air. IMV, Under the Banner of Heaven, Where Men Win Glory and Three Cups of Deceit are decent works investigative journalism in a world that needs more investigative journalism. FTR, I am not a fan of his dry lifeless prose and his side trips into banal details.

[creaky fossil]

I lived in Missoula for 30 years, just moved away 2 years ago. Whoever said "company town" is correct. The whole time I was there the football team got away with anything.

And this is unique to the city of Missoula -- how, exactly? How many other state universities have you attended?

It was one thing when a football player from someplace instate like Harlowtown would get into a drunken bar fight and have the charges quietly swept away, but about 10-15 years ago the football team started recruiting inner city kids with extensive criminal records who could not get into anyplace better. Instead of minor bar fights, the football team started doing home invasions, rapes, and even murders. And the DA kept on covering it all up.

Good job hatin' them nigras, Mr Bollz.

[evasive_MT]

I read Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Where Mean Win Glory. He doesn't talk about himself at all.

You must have skipped whole chapters of Into the Wild.

[babybear]

aren't all authors slanted towards what they believe when writing? Only a few admit it
I actually almost don't want to read it bc I know it will be horrible. Can't figure out whether the timing with the whole rolling stones article is better or worse for the book/ msg though?

Total side note but we just listened to the audio book of under the banner of heaven while on a S Utah road trip- we'd both read prior but many yrs ago and it was straight up riveting listening again

[stuckathuntermtn]

Look up some dick trying to "heckle" him when he was in town.

[babybear]

yea saw that - what a douche. I mean even if Krakauer had a slant, it is still a serious nationwide problem and if this guy sees such 'injustice' in what krakauer wrote- how about putting a percentage of that effort towards the injustice that these girls have received??

[stuckathuntermtn]

Everything I read about the book says that he picked Missoula for that exact reason and addresses the fact that, unfortunately, what happened here is not unusual or a statistical anomaly. The whole point of picking a town like this is that it reflects on places like Burlington, VT, or Boulder, CO, and all those other funky, chic campus towns as well.
If he did a book about ASU, no one would notice because it's the Harvard of daterape.